Demon's Souls Coming to America.

[Rendakor]

Just started playing this and i had a few questions:

first off, what the fuck this is hard.  I like that though.

second, is temple knight a good starting choice? i tried royalty and their nifty spell was very useful but i felt like Harry Potter with the magic wand thingie, i guess it didn't help i was just running around shooting everything and going spectro patronus!  anyways, im a melee kinda guy but i don't want to get my ass kicked too much.

Third, mana regen? i can cast my heal miracle once and thats basically it unless i die and get mana back, i've found one or two items that return mana but they are very very rare so far, royalty had a nifty regen ring, can i get something like that on my templar?

fourth, this is fucking hard.  I beat the first demon with the shields and spears then promptly died once again to some ninja skeletons in some other world and im kind of at a loss as far as where to go.  I assume the ninja kung fu skeletons are not the place to go.

Fifth, whats with all the "im in trouble, please rate this msg" stuff?

The main reason to start as a royal is the regen ring you mentioned; it is eventually purchaseable but I can't remember where. I'd suggest continuing past the boss you killed first to world 1-2. Not sure which world has the ninja skeletons; 4-1 maybe?

Also, what happened to your shift key?

[Threash]

It sticks.  One last thing, can you sell stuff? i have several repeat weapons and a couple crappy shields i don't want.

[schild]

No, you can't sell stuff.

Yes, 4-1 has silver skeletons. You probably haven't seen the actual ninja ones though unless you strayed off course or made it to the boss.

[Threash]

Nope, i was getting my ass kicked by the ones near the entrance.  Single ones were fine but when they came two at a time i dropped like a bitch.

[NiX]

Is there any way to tell which places to go to before others? Is it essentially 1-5 ramp up in challenge or is it all over the place?

[Nerf]

It all scales to your level when you zone in, so you can skip around at will.

[Kageh]

It all scales to your level when you zone in, so you can skip around at will.

It doesn't scale, mob damage/HP/levels etc. are fixed and based on game cycle (i.e. everything gets harder on New Game+, kinda like Nightmare/Hell difficulties on Diablo).

For the difficulty, world 4 and 5 (Shrine of Shadowmen and Valley of Defilement) are noticeably harder than worlds 1 to 3. I'd say the best order to complete is to do 1-1 and 1-2 to level up a bit, then 2-1 and 2-2 to kill Flamelurker so you can upgrade weapons (which is probably going to be a pain on your first playthrough). Once you're there, you can farm 2 a bit to make yourself a good dragon weapon, an awesome starter weapon with high damage and zero stat scaling - thus not depending on your not existant damage stats.

For an easy damage boost until you upgrade a good starting weapon, try picking up the Crescent Falchion in 4-1. It is on the ground quite near the entrance, through an exit at the bottom of the left guard tower right once you enter the 4-1 castle. If you venture up a bit further inside, you can also try picking up the Adjudicator Shield, which is a convenient health regen item.
Afterwards, complete reminder stages at leisure.

[Threash]

Hag, i just got ganked.  That's hilarious, at least i put up a good fight against someone with clearly better gear.

[Dion]

I got this a couple of days ago and I'm now working on my second character, I'm hoping to finish the game with him.

He is currently specced out for using Meat Cleaver with decent Dexterity and Faith. I'm not sure if I want to build on more Dexterity and use Meat Cleaver along with a Tearing Uchaginata or if I want to get more Miracles and Faith and mix it up more...

Also, I just got Hero Demon's Soul and I'm not sure if I want to craft a Long Sword of Searching for farming or if I want Second Chance (I have enough MP to use it)... Suggestions?

[schild]

I used the Long Sword of Searching for my primary weapon for my first character. Fantastic 1 handed weapon when paired with the dark silver shield. Mostly though, I liked it because it looked like a giant piece of bone.

[NiX]

I found out how to level last week. Har har. Now to figure out what to do with my royal. Is it viable to go all magic?

[schild]

I found out how to level last week. Har har. Now to figure out what to do with my royal. Is it viable to go all magic?

No. But again, Nix - INTERNET.

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/

[Dtrain]

My girlfriend picked this up for me last night. I made the mistake of playing a barbarian for my first character - but now that he's got armor he's doing pretty well. Running around naked certainly magnified a tough learning curve and a small margin for error.

I stayed up all night playing, and I can't wait until I get a chance to clear out 1-2. This game kicks you in the balls and makes you like it.

[ffc]

Also, I just got Hero Demon's Soul and I'm not sure if I want to craft a Long Sword of Searching for farming or if I want Second Chance (I have enough MP to use it)... Suggestions?

Second Chance, definitely.   Even if it saves you just once (it has saved me many times), you will be very thankful you have it.  But when you get Warding and can predict when you need it in a level you start to pass on Second Chance.

I have three regrets from leveling up my character:

1)  I boosted luck to 15.  I should have left it at default
2)  I neglected Vitality for my entire first play through and suffered one hit kills all over the place.  Get it to 30.
3)  I neglected Magic/Int.  Get both up to cast Warding twice and if you have Second Chance go for a Talisman of Beasts.

[Dion]

Thanks! I got Second Chance, decided I'll wait with Long Sword of Searching until I build my Blueblood character 

I love my Meat Cleaver, I killed Fool's Idol in four hits with Sticky White Stuff on it. She never got a chance to teleport or clone! I accidently killed Stockpile Thomas so most of my "mats" are gone along with quite a few unique weapons and stuff... Luckily I have what I need to complete the game (Lava Bow, Adjudicator's Shield +2, Meat Cleaver, Talisman of God and all I need to create a perfect Blessed weapon).

Also, no magic on this dude - all I want is Faith, my Meat Cleaver and Colourless Demon's Souls.

[Kageh]

I played three different chars until I decided to try Second Chance/One-Time Revival, and I didn't really miss it, but once you have it, it's pretty handy. It just needs a high Vitality stat to really be worthwhile.

The speed on Large Sword of Searching (for a large sword, thus having pretty high base damage) is amazing though. Meat Cleaver kind of blinds you with the high hits, but in the time you swing MC once, you probably would have gotten 4 hits with LSoS in (no kidding), so the DPS on LSoS is significantly higher.

I found out how to level last week. Har har. Now to figure out what to do with my royal. Is it viable to go all magic?

For PvE, kinda, if you also make yourself a big bad Moon weapon and are not afraid of smashing faces with it every now and then - you won't need melee stats for it other than minimum requirements. While multiplaying, I've seen some mage players with insane damage, and Firestorm + Clever Rat's + all the magic boost items you can get = insta-win usually, even (especially) in NG+ and beyond. I just found it very "uninspired" to play compared to the visceral melee implementation.

I think pure mage sucks for PvP though, because it's very easy to counter (Dark Silver Shield, Anti-Magic Field).

[stray]

I was afraid of that, so didn't go full mage myself. I was mostly mage, but it seemed better to have some other tricks up your sleeve.

But.. I ended up not even playing much PvP in the end anyways. Still cool as a single player build though. Some things would have been twice as hard without it probably.

[Dion]

Aren't Crescent weapons better than Moon weapons for pure mages seeing as their damage increases more with the Magic stat? Also, Crescent weapon gives MP regeneration according to the wiki...

[stray]

Correct.. The Falc was my main source for melee damage. I lent the game out, and can't even look at my build now, but I remember setting up some stats high enough to roll around in armor. Among other things. I don't know if that's what all mages are supposed to do, but it seemed appealing to me.  

[Morfiend]

I just stumbled on this on digg, and while I usually wouldnt post drivel like this, I thought everyone else would like to point and laugh too.

Demon's Souls is hard.

[Dion]

So I cleared out 4-3, 2-3 and 5-1 and now I have all the Miracles I could ever want... Time to summon Mephistopheles for Colourless Demon's Souls 

Now I've got 1-3, 1-4, 3-2, 3-3, 5-2, 5-3 left then I'm done with my first game! Currently working on my Blessed Long Sword (couldn't find a Mirdan Hammer and I need something for smaller spaces), I just need to finish 5-X and I should have all the pieces.

Meat Cleaver is still great, 2-handed R2 attack knocks pretty much everybody down to the ground and I have enough Endurance to chain those attacks together.

Next character will probably also be melée but with Magic instead of Faith, or maybe I'll build a character that will use either Blueblood or Hands of God... Both weapons seem kind of interesting.

[Kageh]

Aren't Crescent weapons better than Moon weapons for pure mages seeing as their damage increases more with the Magic stat? Also, Crescent weapon gives MP regeneration according to the wiki...

Moon weapons scale from 3 stats (STR/DEX/MAG) opposed to only one stat for Crescent (MAG only, even if A). Moon has higher base and magic damage than Crescent (check this page for an example, look at the base physical/magical damage for a Kilij: http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/kilij). The total bonus a Moon weapon will receive from the 2 "E" ratings for STR/DEX and the "C" rating from Magic, even if you never even put a single point there, will be enough to put it above Crescent at a similar stat level.

I suppose crescent might be better once you get to 99 MAG or something like that, but AFAIK the added params start to dwindle very noticeably past 50, so it might suck even there.

If you care about MP regen, craft yourself a Crescent Dagger (cause it's the cheapest to upgrade) and upgrade the Phosphorescent Pole to +5, hotkey them so you can switch to them when not casting, and use the Pole to bash people, as it is the best MP regen item in the game. Even with that, and with Fragrant Ring, it will most likely only serve to keep you from using spices on trash every now and then. I used that myself for a while, until I made a Moon War Scythe +5, which I found a lot better. Once Tower of Latria AS IS open, a quick sweep of 3-1 gets you around 10-15 spices, which is usually more than enough to get you through a level.

[stray]

I just stumbled on this on digg, and while I usually wouldnt post drivel like this, I thought everyone else would like to point and laugh too.

Demon's Souls is hard.

It's really not that hard though once you get used to it. I remember bringing it to a friends house, and chatting up everyone on how hard it was.. and since I didn't have a save, I walked through with them for the first couple of levels and just seemed to destroy everything (except tutorial boss, of course). Granted, those are the first levels, but I figured it'd be somewhat difficult at 1-1. I remember the first time playing it, I must have repeated that map 10 times.

[Kageh]

Now I've got 1-3, 1-4, 3-2, 3-3, 5-2, 5-3 left then I'm done with my first game! Currently working on my Blessed Long Sword (couldn't find a Mirdan Hammer and I need something for smaller spaces), I just need to finish 5-X and I should have all the pieces.

Meat Cleaver is still great, 2-handed R2 attack knocks pretty much everybody down to the ground and I have enough Endurance to chain those attacks together.

Next character will probably also be melée but with Magic instead of Faith, or maybe I'll build a character that will use either Blueblood or Hands of God... Both weapons seem kind of interesting.

There's a Mirdan on the ground in the 5-2 swamp at some place, close to a wall.

5-2 is one of those places that puts MC at a big disadvantage imo. No dodging in the swamp, tight and confined spaces and lots of enemies on the scaffoldings. I'm curious how you'll find it there.

Hands of God were kind of a disappointment in the end to me. Not enough range and too long of a windup on the strong attacks.

[Morfiend]

I just stumbled on this on digg, and while I usually wouldnt post drivel like this, I thought everyone else would like to point and laugh too.

Demon's Souls is hard.

It's really not that hard though once you get used to it. I remember bringing it to a friends house, and chatting up everyone on how hard it was.. and since I didn't have a save, I walked through with them for the first couple of levels and just seemed to destroy everything (except tutorial boss, of course). Granted, those are the first levels, but I figured it'd be somewhat difficult at 1-1. I remember the first time playing it, I must have repeated that map 10 times.

Thats because, as Schild said, its more personal skill than character skill that makes you good at the game. Gamers these days are just lazy.

[Teleku]

I do feel that you guys over hyped the hardness.  Especially with magic users.  On my very first play session with the game, I made it all the way to the end of 1-2 before my first death (and that was just because I miss-judged the stupid dragon).  Which is why I promptly rolled a new melee char and went from there.  Game can be tricky, just not at all hard as you guys make it out to be.  Most levels are pretty easy to get through, and boss fights are where you tend to die till you figure them out.

[stray]

The odd thing is that most bosses are quite easy... Plenty of games with tougher bosses. The maps just take some getting use to the patterns, and actually using your skills (namely, defense). I still recommend that people start off with a Royal though.

[Teleku]

Oh, I agree on the bosses as well, its just that there are a few pain in the asses who can give you some trouble.  Flamelurker was the first boss I didn't beat in the first try or 2nd try.  I came to realize that was because I simply didn't have a decent bow, got one, then proceeded to rape him.  Easy sailing again until I got to Maneater.

[Yegolev]

I just stumbled on this on digg, and while I usually wouldnt post drivel like this, I thought everyone else would like to point and laugh too.

Demon's Souls is hard.

I find it funny that he Godwined his own article.  Also, he sucks.  I am better at DS than that guy.  I could also kiss a girl in the middle of a boss fight without freaking out, but I might have reversed priorities from him.

[ffc]

Demon's Souls is hard.

I WAS GOING TO KISS A GIRL BUT I WAS LIKE WAIT NO PAUSE BUTTON HELP AND SHE WAS LIKE TWEET FACEBOOK AND I WAS LIKE PAUSE PAUSE

[stray]

Hate to be serious, but it's lame complaint since... Nothing respawns and nothing wanders into your area. Except maybe those flower pod things in the swamp, but even then, they really don't. Every 3 or 4 baddies you kill is a opportunity for a break, if you want to look at it that way. [edit] Of course, I'm discounting players coming into your world, but whatever. By the time you level up high enough for pvp to be that common, then it's not like you have other shit to do in the game. If you get killed, it's not that big of a deal.

[Dion]

Now I've got 1-3, 1-4, 3-2, 3-3, 5-2, 5-3 left then I'm done with my first game! Currently working on my Blessed Long Sword (couldn't find a Mirdan Hammer and I need something for smaller spaces), I just need to finish 5-X and I should have all the pieces.

Meat Cleaver is still great, 2-handed R2 attack knocks pretty much everybody down to the ground and I have enough Endurance to chain those attacks together.

Next character will probably also be melée but with Magic instead of Faith, or maybe I'll build a character that will use either Blueblood or Hands of God... Both weapons seem kind of interesting.

There's a Mirdan on the ground in the 5-2 swamp at some place, close to a wall.

5-2 is one of those places that puts MC at a big disadvantage imo. No dodging in the swamp, tight and confined spaces and lots of enemies on the scaffoldings. I'm curious how you'll find it there.

Hands of God were kind of a disappointment in the end to me. Not enough range and too long of a windup on the strong attacks.

Too bad I killed Thomas who had my Dragon Long Sword +5... I got a new Long Sword from a vendor in 1-3 and upgraded it to Blessed +2, I'll use that in 5-2 I think and upgrade it as I go but I'm gonna try using MC first for sure. Before I go futher in 5-2 I'll try to finish 3-2 and get my Gloom armor and upgrade my Adjudicator's Shield to +5 (w Mephistopheles assassination rewards, the Soul in 1-1 and trading with the Crow).

[Kageh]

I do feel that you guys over hyped the hardness.  Especially with magic users.  On my very first play session with the game, I made it all the way to the end of 1-2 before my first death (and that was just because I miss-judged the stupid dragon).  Which is why I promptly rolled a new melee char and went from there.  Game can be tricky, just not at all hard as you guys make it out to be.  Most levels are pretty easy to get through, and boss fights are where you tend to die till you figure them out.

I found some of the bosses very intimidating when I first played. Especially Flamelurker, Armored Spider (I was too scared by the constant fireballing to run out of the tunnel, heh) and Maneater. Flamelurker in particular was a nightmare, as I also had to figure the way down all by myself and I must've died about 20 times on those platforms trying to collect all the stuff.

I'm curious, have you played NG+ and beyond? 4-x and 5-x are pretty hard on subsequent playthroughs.

[Teleku]

Nah, haven't really bothered, sort of got bored with the game (its a great game, its just that combat seems repetitive by the end and I have a shit ton of other games to play, I'll get back to it eventually).  I'm sure it gets much harder on the NG+ games, but thats also suppose to be "Hard Mode".  I'm just saying the base game isn't nearly as painful as everybody made it out to be. 

[Dion]

Fuck this character, it's really hard to store all treasure without Stockpile Thomas around... I'll start a new character later tonight and try to not fuck up that save.