Demon's Souls Coming to America.

[ghost]

Okay, so I just ran through Boletarian Palace 1-1 and there is no dragon at the bridge.  Is this a glitch? 

Which bridge?

The very first place you typically encounter the dragon.  Right after you pass the passageway to their roost.

[schild]

Weird. He was in the review build.

[Kageh]

The very first place you typically encounter the dragon.  Right after you pass the passageway to their roost.

I've had that happen in the asian version too. Are the two dragons in their roost? If they are not, and there's no dragon flying over the bridge, your world may have glitched to pure white world tendency (WT). That is pretty cool because you can loot the Purple Flame Shield and the Ring of Great Strength from the dragon stash right away. To check whether you have 1-1 in pure white WT, start from the first archstone and take the first left exit, before you start climbing the stairs to the palace. After descending a couple stairs, you'll see a gate. If it is open, the world is either pure white or pure black WT. You can continue there if you're bold and you'll fight Executioner Miralda, probably in body form if the WT is pure white. Body form Miralda drops the best light female armor in the game, the binded set. Also, there's a colorless demon soul in where Miralda hides, which is used to upgrade the non-boss uniques, and deep inside the pit there - it will probably take quite a few suicide attempts to get to the bottom - is the Brushwood armor set from Biorr, which is the best heavy male armor. There's also a crystal gecko there, on the way to Miralda.


Be aware that if you kill body form Miralda return to Nexus, WT will drop by -3 and probably return to neutral, making the dragons return next time you zone in.

Also, remember that if you play in body form and die, this lowers WT by 1 and will make you lose pure white WT if you had it. When WT is of concern, always suicide in the Nexus and play in soul form.

[ghost]

No, they were there.  I always check that too.  Gate was  closed, as well

[kildorn]

I only had time for an hour or so, but this game pretty much throws you to the wolves right off the bat. Tutorial, then "now .. FIGHT OR DIE"

Interesting though. I'm still having issues learning to kite and using bows/rapidly switching off using them.

[ffc]

I'm trying to get the hang of rolling and parrying.  The result was dying ~10 times on the first set of stairs in 1-1.

[Yegolev]

I found that I was better at rolling and backstabbing than parrying and countering, so I went with it.

[schild]

On the Asian version I have a character that hasn't died at all and is about halfway through the game.

I have never once parried anything on any character.

[Kageh]

Parrying is quite hard because the timing is tight and there are actually quite a few attacks that cannot be parried (if I'm not mistaken, most of the "strong" ones can't). You need to set yourself up for the correct timing and at the same time be ready to dodge out of the way if the attack is of the wrong kind. Most of the hard stuff past 1-2 i.e.  Red Eyes Knight,  Golden Skeleton etc., will one-shot you  if you time the parry wrong. I hear some people have good results with the parry dagger from 3-1, but at that point I didn't bother with parry anymore.

I found it a lot easier to just use a shield, too. For my rogue, I went with an upgraded spiked shield that has a very fast and quite cool attack animation, plus you can upgrade that to a "sharp" version which gets a solid damage bonus from dex.

[Morfiend]

My Rogish character uses an Uchigatana and the Dark Steel Shield. I very much enjoy the uchigatana, I just wish the strong attacks windup wasnt quite so long.

[schild]

My rogue-ish character uses a Large Sword of Searching and the gloom armor.

[Kageh]

I was very disappointed with armor in PVE. I just wore black leather for the poison resistance, anything else makes little to no difference when you're hit and it is just encumbering you for dodging and running, not to mention the stamina penalty. Late NG and right at start of NG+, damage takes a significant jump and unless you're a Vitality junkie you're not surviving more than one hit often. I "one-hit wiped" on damn king Doran for three hours straight in a fair fight attempt until I gave in and exploited the crap out of chain backstabbing him (for his armor), just to find out the armor is sort of like fluted, just lighter and without the stamina penalty.

The physDef difference on the chestpiece between leather and the best "still wearable" plate (Mirdan, not talking Brushwood since you need tons of Endurance to barely crawl in Brushwood) is a mere 11 physDef (25 vs. 36), and every character level boosts your physDef by 1 anyway. Gloom is nice for the magic resistance, but most PVE magic is so easily dodged it's not worth the bother, and outside of maybe Fool's Idol no boss is exclusively magic (But for that you can just get Dark Silver Shield). Gloom/Black Leather (to get you under 50% equippable weight) is probably the best combination for PVP though.

That's actually on my wish list for DS2: Useful armor.

Best combo for melee PVE imo is North Regalia (awesome speed for a great sword and at pure white/black CT you have +470 attack with zero stats) and a Purple Shield +10. Maybe Tower Shield +5 if you could manage the darn 30 weight on the shield. PVP I would probably switch the shield for Adjudicator +5. And you also need a solid bow, either Lava Bow or White Bow or Viscous Spider Bow +5.

I'm currently trying a pure dagger/dodge/backstab build with a Sharp Secret Dagger (where I'm stuck on upgrading since the chunks of bladestone stubbornly refuse to drop) and a "holy monk" type of guy with STR/WIS and the Hands of God. The backstab thing is fun but very squishy, the monk is quite sturdy but damage output still pales compared to North Regalia.

[ghost]

I got irritated with how often the uchigatana seems to break.  I get really tired of grinding souls for repair.

[schild]

That's actually on my wish list for DS2: Useful armor.

Best combo for melee PVE imo is North Regalia (awesome speed for a great sword and at pure white/black CT you have +470 attack with zero stats) and a Purple Shield +10. Maybe Tower Shield +5 if you could manage the darn 30 weight on the shield. PVP I would probably switch the shield for Adjudicator +5. And you also need a solid bow, either Lava Bow or White Bow or Viscous Spider Bow +5.

I'm currently trying a pure dagger/dodge/backstab build with a Sharp Secret Dagger (where I'm stuck on upgrading since the chunks of bladestone stubbornly refuse to drop) and a "holy monk" type of guy with STR/WIS and the Hands of God. The backstab thing is fun but very squishy, the monk is quite sturdy but damage output still pales compared to North Regalia.

North Regalia has always been considered broken and their nerf didn't help the situation much. All damage will pale in comparison from nearly anything.

The best armor I've found has been "getting hit less." In fact, I'd wager all the armor being relatively weak (that's to say - to a point - realistic) made me better at the game in the long run.

[ghost]

I usually don't go for heavy armor.  I like mobility better.

[schild]

I agree, which is one of the reasons I grinded enough to have full mobility in the gloom w/ dark silver shield.

[Quinton]

There are some awesome, whiny reviews turning up about how impossibly hard the game is.

[ghost]

Yeah, I wouldn't say the US version is "easy", but it does seem easier to damage foes and I seem to take less damage.  It just may be my bias from having played so much, however. 

[schild]

There are some awesome, whiny reviews turning up about how impossibly hard the game is.

Almost every place knocked it down from 10 for being too hard. It is, in fact, almost the only reason it hasn't scored perfectly everywhere across the web.

One site took off points for not having checkpoints. I don't think they played long enough to find out finishing every level results in many, many shortcuts throughout the game.

[ghost]

Other than a little bit of a steep learning curve this game really isn't that hard. 

[ffc]

Yeah, I wouldn't say the US version is "easy", but it does seem easier to damage foes and I seem to take less damage.  It just may be my bias from having played so much, however. 

Atlus has stated several times there have been zero difficulty adjustments made. 

Fighting dying clawing through 1-1 and coming up on a lone knight standing across a narrow outdoor walkway littered with bloodstains and warnings to be wary of the foe ahead made me feel pure dread.  Partly because he's clearly a hard enemy, and partly because of how many hard enemies I had to fight just to get to this harder enemy in the first part of the first level of the entire game. 

Demon's Souls is not easy.  You got good.

[Azazel]

It sounds a little Korean-MMO-grindy.

I almost bought it last night, but Play-Asia is out of stock. So I'll wait.

[Rasix]

It sounds a little Korean-MMO-grindy.

It's not. 

[Kageh]

North Regalia has always been considered broken and their nerf didn't help the situation much. All damage will pale in comparison from nearly anything.

The best armor I've found has been "getting hit less." In fact, I'd wager all the armor being relatively weak (that's to say - to a point - realistic) made me better at the game in the long run.

I agree with that, dodging and a good shield are the best defense. There are instances where dodging alone is too difficult/dangerous (narrow walkways and stairs in 3-2 or the 3 Red Eyes Knights chain charging you with spears in 1-3  for example) so I still need a shield, but you could practically go naked with that and still survive if your reflexes are fast. And it feels so satisfactory when you learn to dominate the foes which used to utterly destroy you. I have yet to play another game where the feeling of progression and advancement, the classic "you have gotten better at killing stuff (+1)", is so rewarding and well realized.

Regarding North Regalia: how was it nerfed? I started playing on the Korea version with patch 1.03 and sometimes depatch to 1.0 if  I want to get black world WT without using Stones of Ephemeral Eyes, but I haven't noticed changes. I just know they nerfed Meat Cleaver and took the drain life effect off with 1.04.

Which brings me to my next question: The U.S. version probably comes with 1.04 already installed and cannot be de-patched, right? Still waiting for my box to be shipped from dvdboxoffice.com.

[schild]

I haven't played the retail version (sitting on the shelf) but the reviewable did not need to be patched when I played it.

[Kageh]

Ah okay, thanks. No more chain suiciding in ghost form for black WT then!

[ghost]

Atlus has stated several times there have been zero difficulty adjustments made. 

I'm not buying this.  There is a definite difference in how fast the dredgelings drop for a new character creation.  Also, there is more of a pause between their jump and when they start swinging back and forth.

[Tairnyn]

I got the collector's edition last night and it did not need a patch, so I think it's up to date. I didn't think I wanted the CE because it had a game guide, but when I started playing and realized there's very little in the way of a traditional tutorial I was really glad to have it. Overall, I'm enjoying the game thoroughly now that I have the hang of it. My only complaint is that I can't find a way to pause the game when I'm in the middle of a long fight.

Really liking the shield/spear combo, but the shield is more of a safety net since I prefer to dodge attacks and strike at range. I find the game to be hard but in a good way that strikes fear into my heart. I got through 1-1 last night and have died only once on the bridge of flaming doom. However, I also avoided the few really hard spots that had blood stains and notes to warn me off, so I'm pretty conservative.

I do have a pair of questions: if I die and then shut off the game will I still be able to go get my bloodstain to recover the souls? Also, is it a good idea to save the soul items and use them in the Nexus to avoid losing the souls on death?

[kildorn]

Atlus has stated several times there have been zero difficulty adjustments made. 

I'm not buying this.  There is a definite difference in how fast the dredgelings drop for a new character creation.  Also, there is more of a pause between their jump and when they start swinging back and forth.

I don't quite "get" the dredgeling berserk swing thing. Sometimes they do it immediately post leap, sometimes it seems like blocking/dodging the leap stops them from doing it and you can start on the offense. Part of my issue with the learning curve is figuring out how to anticipate attack patterns on the knights and such.

The other part is trying to use the parry system, which seems to be obnoxiously difficult.

[ghost]

I don't parry.  It's too much of a timing thing and other methods of attack are almost as effective without the inherent risk.

[schild]

There is no difference in how often those mobs do the berserk swing.

Anyone who played the Asian version is far too good at the game now to judge difficulty anyway.

[ghost]

I'm telling you.........I don't typically get better at games.  I just out level the competition, haha.

[cironian]

I do have a pair of questions: if I die and then shut off the game will I still be able to go get my bloodstain to recover the souls? Also, is it a good idea to save the soul items and use them in the Nexus to avoid losing the souls on death?

Yes, the bloodstain should save; even going to the Nexus didn't wipe it out for me. Just make sure not to die.

You can think of the Hero/Soldier souls as a safe bank account that you can only withdraw from. So, don't cash them in until you are standing at the vendor where you want to use the souls. And don't cash in any Demon souls unless you checked every guide to make sure they are worthless to you.

[stu]

If I want to summon a Blue Phantom from an Otherworld before taking on a boss, is there an Eye Stone I can use to bring the player in or do I just have to wait for the queue to show up on the floor?

In other news, this game is tough. I happened to pass by a Game Stop yesterday and decided to ask the clerks inside what they thought of the game. Both disliked it and only one of them was able to get past the first boss. They just didn't seem inclined to talk about Demon's Souls at all. Part-way through the sixty second conversation, I imagined myself spreading fire & turpentine on my steel ruler and slaying them. If anything, their death animations may have been slightly more dramatic than a majority of the ones from the game- my only real gripe so far.

[Kageh]

If I want to summon a Blue Phantom from an Otherworld before taking on a boss, is there an Eye Stone I can use to bring the player in or do I just have to wait for the queue to show up on the floor?

You need to stumble upon blue signs from players in your level range offering to be summoned, there's no way to "actively" ask for aid, at least not that I know of. And you need to be in body form to see the blue signs.

If you are in soul form yourself, you can use your blue stone to put a marker on the ground and somewhere someone might find it and summon you. While your soul sign is out, you can keep playing normally and you'll be summoned from wherever should a player request your assistance.

You can usually find blue signs at the start of a level, right after an archstone. At least that's where I always put mine and most people seem to meet. On the other hand, if you want to play with a buddy your best bet is to use a soul sign placed where hardly anyone would find it and hope it shows up in either of your games.

Also, there is some sort of level range check to be able to see soul signs. I don't know what it is exactly, I heard something like +/-10 levels from your (the host) level is what you are able to see.