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[sh4mike]

I'm done playing this game. Some design decisions are too brutal for my taste:

1) The more you die, the harder it gets (black tendency).
2) No convenient way to bring the difficulty back down (unless you count repeated suicide runs online emoting people to kill you quickly).
3) Single mistake deaths abound (red-tinted enemies on black, thin ledge fights over pits), combined with...
4) Permanently lose all money/exp if die before body recovery
5) Inability to bank money/exp can lead to tremendous frustration while saving for a big item (e.g. losing 3+ hours of work @ 30K souls following a double-death while saving for the 50K soul ring)
6) Check points entirely too far apart
7) Full enemy respawn upon death

Definitely not for everyone despite the mainstream action-RPG classification. This is the first action-RPG I have failed to complete since some of the unplayable PS1 titles. Frustrating experience.

Reminds me of Everquest. Not overly hard, but frequent deaths resulting in loss of grind work take a certain temperment to handle. I want to always feel like I'm going forward -- can't handle two steps forward, one-step back repeated ad nauseum.

 

[Doctor_No]

I'm done playing this game. Some design decisions are too brutal for my taste:

1) The more you die, the harder it gets (black tendency).
2) No convenient way to bring the difficulty back down (unless you count repeated suicide runs online emoting people to kill you quickly).
3) Single mistake deaths abound (red-tinted enemies on black, thin ledge fights over pits), combined with...
4) Permanently lose all money/exp if die before body recovery
5) Inability to bank money/exp can lead to tremendous frustration while saving for a big item (e.g. losing 3+ hours of work @ 30K souls following a double-death while saving for the 50K soul ring)
6) Check points entirely too far apart
7) Full enemy respawn upon death

Definitely not for everyone despite the mainstream action-RPG classification. This is the first action-RPG I have failed to complete since some of the unplayable PS1 titles. Frustrating experience.

Reminds me of Everquest. Not overly hard, but frequent deaths resulting in loss of grind work take a certain temperment to handle. I want to always feel like I'm going forward -- can't handle two steps forward, one-step back repeated ad nauseum.

The game is brutal, and it isn't for everyone. There's no arguing that.

However, how you approach this game changes the difficulty level. The advice I've given from the beginning is that you shouldn't stress out about reclaiming your body. You need to separate your mentality from when you want to tackle a stage and when you want to collect souls.

In this game there are well defined grinding points throughout the game where you can farm souls with relative ease. You shouldn't spend 3 hours trying to get 30,000 souls, you can get that in a 10 minutes of play later on (You also get that soul ring later in the game). There really isn't any expensive item in this game you won't find through normal gameplay; you should only spend souls on leveling up and consumable items.

When you grind, your soul will automatically move towards white, lowering your difficulty. Leveling up also increases base physical defense regardless of where you invest your skill points, you will be taking less damage as you level up. You cannot really mistake on how you invest your character.

General rule of thumb. If its too hard-> Level up by grinding.

Oh yeah, wanted to ask you guys who have some experience with this; what's the best class to start with if I want to build a "mageblade" or "battlemage" type character? It's my favorite fantasy archetype and the one I will probably go with first. I like the guy who's not necessarily the strongest defensively but can swing a sword with skill and has excellent arcane knowledge.

I notice the Noble starts with a mp regen ring and on the wiki is described as being a competent spell caster right from the get-go but is that ring really important in the overall scheme of things? Or should I go for one of the more balanced classes (like Knight) and try to work my way towards more spellcasting proficiency? Decisions, decisions!

The temple knight or noble may be good choices if you want a battle-mage-like character. In the end you can develop your character to your liking.

 

[mujun]

1) The more you die, the harder it gets (black tendency).
2) No convenient way to bring the difficulty back down (unless you count repeated suicide runs online emoting people to kill you quickly).
3) Single mistake deaths abound (red-tinted enemies on black, thin ledge fights over pits), combined with...
4) Permanently lose all money/exp if die before body recovery
5) Inability to bank money/exp can lead to tremendous frustration while saving for a big item (e.g. losing 3+ hours of work @ 30K souls following a double-death while saving for the 50K soul ring)
6) Check points entirely too far apart
7) Full enemy respawn upon death

while i agree its quite unforgiving..

1.really? i dont really recall this happening to me though i died a bunch.
2.see 1
3.yeah this happens but you get better at judging the longer you spend with the game (like any games difficulty really).
4.frustrating but basically you are better off not hoarding souls. everytime you go back to the nexus after a run think about how you could use whatever souls you have at the time to make yourself more powerful.
5.see 4, you are better off holding off on saving up for such expensive stuff. if the most you can get for killing an enemy is 100 souls, dont save for something that costs 50k basically.
6.i found that the levels actually shrunk a lot after i got used to them, they seem long at first i think.
7.you need this for grinding and the most irritating enemies (imo) actually dont respawn (bosses, red spirits aka the guys at 1-3, etc).

it is unforgiving in its difficulty in terms of the monsters, your stats, etc but ive found whenever i hit a wall there was always somewhere i could go, something i could do that was easy for the level i was at at the time (i had to think it through a couple of times though9.

anecdote on difficulty, i was going to give up on several bosses, last night the 2-1 one on new game+, just summoned a co-op player and did it no worries. a good co-op player makes many of the bosses and levels mega easy.

 

[Defuser]

Finally beaten the game, I decided not to kill the maiden.But does this mean I can face the old one if I kill her?

Anyway,the game put me to new game+ immediately,I went to boletaria and I got 3 black phantoms breaking into my world :| wtf
And damn it is freaking hard,the minister at stonefang once again kick my ass because his fire destroyed half my life :|

 

[Fair Witness]

I'm done playing this game. Some design decisions are too brutal for my taste:

1) The more you die, the harder it gets (black tendency).
2) No convenient way to bring the difficulty back down (unless you count repeated suicide runs online emoting people to kill you quickly).
3) Single mistake deaths abound (red-tinted enemies on black, thin ledge fights over pits), combined with...
4) Permanently lose all money/exp if die before body recovery
5) Inability to bank money/exp can lead to tremendous frustration while saving for a big item (e.g. losing 3+ hours of work @ 30K souls following a double-death while saving for the 50K soul ring)
6) Check points entirely too far apart
7) Full enemy respawn upon death

Definitely not for everyone despite the mainstream action-RPG classification. This is the first action-RPG I have failed to complete since some of the unplayable PS1 titles. Frustrating experience.

Reminds me of Everquest. Not overly hard, but frequent deaths resulting in loss of grind work take a certain temperment to handle. I want to always feel like I'm going forward -- can't handle two steps forward, one-step back repeated ad nauseum.

It sounds like you're dying too much and making this all sound harder than it really is. As has been mentioned, when you want to clear a level don't worry about souls, if you die don't go try and claim your corpse, just keep trying to clear the level. And play cautiously, there's no harm in luring an enemy out one at a time to kill him without his friends helping, bring plenty of weeds to eat and you should be ok. Make sure you're upgrading weapons and armour too, makes a big difference early on I found.

Saving up 50k souls is so fast later on because of the grind spots. I mean, when you get to the point where a mob drops thousands of souls and only takes a few hits to bring down, then you know you're at the point where you can save up for the 50k item, etc. At the beginning I wouldn't worry too much, if you're lower level find the simple grind spots (like the two blue knights at beginning of 1-3 etc.).

As far as the enemy respawn when you die, that's usually not even an issue because as you explore a level you open up shortcuts, so if you die you can quickly get back to where you were.

Also, if you get to a boss that is challenging, keep fighting until you're at least good enough to almost kill him. Then just use an ephemeral eye, and look for blue stones near the boss and get some coop help.

For reference, my character is a magician and I'm only wearing wizard clothes and I have a lame shield. If mobs hit me directly I take massive damage, I cast spells all the time, but often to save mana I do melee combat. You just have to be careful, run in for an attack, quickly roll away etc. I've seen other characters that have heavy armour and stand in there with the mobs just blocking/attacking .. no way in hell I can do that with my character, but I still don't find the game hard. I'm just cautious as I move through the level, making sure I don't get surrounded, and if I do I make sure my wand is ready to cast spells as quickly as possible.

 

[garath]

Demon's Souls Second Shipment Arrives
The second batch of Demon's Souls (Asian Version) arrived today and the next group of preorders/backorders will ship this afternoon. If you received an email notification already, your order is shipping today. Shipment notifications will be sent out before 6PM EST when orders are dispatched. For Yahoo and Hotmail users, please check your Junk Email folder. All remaining orders that are still outstanding should be fulfilled by next week when the third batch of DMS is released by Sony Hong Kong.

For those of you still waiting on an NCSX order, it looks like all pending orders will be processed by next week.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I posted this on SA forums but I wanted to throw it up on here as well:

I've started mapping out each level in 2.5D/cross-section - I'm posting a very rough copy of 1-1 and plan to continue updating the wiki with these types of maps. Any help with corrections/errors, or where to find things I might miss, what enemies drop and where, etc would be greatly appreciated.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/mdonatelli/P3130013.jpg

 

[PuMa]

For those of you still waiting on an NCSX order, it looks like all pending orders will be processed by next week.

Good news. I cant wait.

 

[archnemesis]

I'm getting the hang of the basics and got past 1-1, 1-2, and 2-1, but I still don't understand everything about this game.

• What's the point of the red blood stains?
• A few of my weapons have reached level 3 and I now have branching options. Is it worth upgrading my weapons to the quality version?

I don't really know where to go next, so right now I'm continuing with 2-2. How is everybody else playing it? Do you have a preferred order of tackling the five worlds?

 

[Fair Witness]

• What's the point of the red blood stains?

They provide comedic relief watching how others die. For example, you'll find a lot of blood stains around areas that have holes in the floor, watching the character oblivious to the hole run right into it is always good for a laugh (I've contributed my fair share of blood stains too).

They're also good warning signs if there's not any warning messages or the messages aren't clear. For example, if there's a trap coming up it's likely you'll find lots of blood stains near it, watch how/where others die can help you out.

Also, sometimes there are hard to reach items, watching how others attempted to get the item but failed will make sure you don't do it the same way.

 

[Captain Pants]

I posted this on SA forums but I wanted to throw it up on here as well:

I've started mapping out each level in 2.5D/cross-section - I'm posting a very rough copy of 1-1 and plan to continue updating the wiki with these types of maps. Any help with corrections/errors, or where to find things I might miss, what enemies drop and where, etc would be greatly appreciated.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/mdonatelli/P3130013.jpg

Oh wow! That is awesome. I will have to download and rehost this stuff to share in my thread over at Gamespot. I've stolen a lot from you and Doctor_No, but I've convinced about 5 or 6 people on this small forum to import the game.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Hmm, question for the community: I thought I read somewhere that you could use Grey Demon's Soul as a Colorless or get a Colorless somehow with this soul? That doesn't seem likely to me, is this a falsehood?

 

[matmanx1]

Demon's Souls get! And yes, the game is everything I thought it would be and more. It definitely has the old school King's Field vibe with nicely updated graphics and sound. The immersion really is top notch. Loved the opening cinematic and narration. Gave me a very dark Lord of the Rings vibe.

I started a Royal (Noble) as my first attempt and at first was getting my rear handed to me. I didnt die until I hit the boss dude in the tutorial but quickly learned how to lock on, evade, roll and shoot magic at most enemies. I love how the enemies dodge, jump at you aggressively, block and ambush you from out of nowhere. It's awesome and "feels" real. I havent made it out of the first area yet but I didnt get far enough to rescue the Knight who's name starts with "O". (Olatavia? something like that) and get my first ore haul. Basically I've just been going really slowly and cautiously (cause you really never know whats going to be around the next corner, or on that ledge over your head just out of sight...) and enjoying each encounter. I think I spent 2 hours already just in 1-1 and the Nexus. And I love it!

Oh well, time for bed now. Hopefully I'll get some more time with this tomorrow after work. I need more Demon's Souls!

 

[RavenFox]

Okay Im loving this game and tonight I have a chance to get some good play time in. Im up to the first area with two dragons on a hill. I can go down into the field and make my way up to them bu the question is, Should I? I mean this looks like a painful death awaits.:lol

Dr? Indigo? Anyone?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Finally beaten the game, I decided not to kill the maiden.But does this mean I can face the old one if I kill her?

Anyway,the game put me to new game+ immediately,I went to boletaria and I got 3 black phantoms breaking into my world :| wtf
And damn it is freaking hard,the minister at stonefang once again kick my ass because his fire destroyed half my life :|

The same thing happened to me. I was holding over 200,000 souls at the time, so I immediately quit out of the game when I got the message that a black phantom was invading my world. I signed out of PSN and played the game offline until I finished 1-1 and was able to spend my souls.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Okay Im loving this game and tonight I have a chance to get some good play time in. Im up to the first area with two dragons on a hill. I can go down into the field and make my way up to them bu the question is, Should I? I mean this looks like a painful death awaits.:lol

Dr? Indigo? Anyone?

My advice to you my friend is wait to visit the dragons until you're much stronger. I didn't deal with them until I was Soul Level 60-65, and I still died twice trying to get all the stuff. They will no doubt kill you instantly. Have you opened the shortcuts? It would be a tiny bit less stressful if you have, but I still wouldn't recommend it!

There is a shield there that could help you with certain areas, but, it's not entirely necessary to get early in the game. If I knew the exact location, meaning which corpse it was on, I'd tell you so you could grab it if you were really ambitious!

 

[RavenFox]

If I quit at a certain point will I restart there?

 

[indigo-cyclops]

If I quit at a certain point will I restart there?

If you quit in time, yes. Say you die and were right near a boss or something - if you quit the game quick enough, aka, right after you die, you will load a few minutes back from where you died. Comes in handy sometimes considering the game autosaves EVERYTHING; just gotta be quick about it.

 

[RavenFox]

I think I will be patient and grind Indigo. Thanks so much for the advice. Everyone that approaches that dragon gets cooked.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I think I will be patient and grind Indigo. Thanks so much for the advice. Everyone that approaches that dragon gets cooked.

Not a problem man, good luck! They are definitely ruthless and later on in the game you'll have the means to take care of him

 

[NolbertoS]

My copy arrived ...finally time to grind out the levels and reminsce about King's Field. See ya guys in 1 week..gonna try to see how far I get into the game. If it's mind-numbing difficult, I may take a break and play some RE5, to make me forget the difficulty for awhile.

 

[Defuser]

Newgame+ is really really difficult. Although I'm soul level 92,I managed to beat Armoured Spider solo.

Question : Does DeathFog also affect that dragon at 1-2?

 

[Dr. Acid Avatar]

I just ordered from Play-Asia with a $5 off coupon. Was 63 bucks, not bad. It's currently back ordered but they already charged my paypal account. Hopefully I get it by the end of the month.

 

[Doctor_No]

Newgame+ is really really difficult. Although I'm soul level 92,I managed to beat Armoured Spider solo.

Question : Does DeathFog also affect that dragon at 1-2?

DeathFog only works on select humanoid bosses so it won't work on the dragon to my knowledge.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Spoiler

You need the last boss soul + Soul Brand (from inside the tree) + Demon Brand (which you get from Old King Doran).

If you missed the Demon Brand, just go ahead and kill Ostrava at the beginning to get the Mausoleum Key and go to the door behind the red-eyed knight in 1-1. You get the Demon Brand by fighting Old King Doran and giving him moderate damage. If you want to get his armor and a special ring you'll have to kill him completely.

Also, don't kill Ostrava till later if you want to do the Mephistopheles quests (your soul level must be black)

Strange. I have the Soul Brand, the Demon Brand and the soul of the final boss (Soul of the Fake King), but the smithy in 2-1 does not offer me the option to make the weapon. Is there something I need to do?

 

[Defuser]

DeathFog only works on select humanoid bosses so it won't work on the dragon to my knowledge.

Thanks.

I can't stress enough how difficult newgame+ is. Latria tower enemies kills me in 1 hit. Never have this much trouble before.

 

[RavenFox]

Well I dont know where to go since I just started but Im loving it. Deaths just make me more determined.

 

[mujun]

Strange. I have the Soul Brand, the Demon Brand and the soul of the final boss (Soul of the Fake King), but the smithy in 2-1 does not offer me the option to make the weapon. Is there something I need to do?

gotta beat 2-2 boss again n give him the soul.

 

[RavenFox]

Where do I have to go to beat Boletarian palace?

 

[Defuser]

Where do I have to go to beat Boletarian palace?

Anywhere.

edit: Didn't read your post properly sorry. You must open the big door gate at the beginning to face phalanx.

 

[mujun]

Where do I have to go to beat Boletarian palace?

did u cross the bridge with heaps of guys on it after crushing some guys with a boulder trap on a narrow walkway on the side of the castle?

after crossing the bridge u head into the tower, pull a lever and the entrance to the boss' room at the bottom of the tower will open.

 

[RavenFox]

did u cross the bridge with heaps of guys on it after crushing some guys with a boulder trap on a narrow walkway on the side of the castle?

after crossing the bridge u head into the tower, pull a lever and the entrance to the boss' room at the bottom of the tower will open.

Ahhh I did that but didnt see a lever. Thanks guys

 

[mujun]

Ahhh I did that but didnt see a lever. Thanks guys

good luck with phalanx, make sure u have oil or torches

 

[RavenFox]

good luck with phalanx, make sure u have oil or torches

What about firebombs? I saw a few messages saying that outside the big gates.

 

[Defuser]

What about firebombs? I saw a few messages saying that outside the big gates.

Takes too long to deal out damage in long term and I doubt you got a good supply of firebombs. Stick to Sword + Turpentine/cast fire.

 

[RavenFox]

Takes too long to deal out damage in long term and I doubt you got a good supply of firebombs. Stick to Sword + Turpentine/cast fire.

Turpentine purchase at the Nexus?

 

[Captain Pants]

Turpentine purchase at the Nexus?

The enemies inside the first shortcut in Boletaria Palace all drop turpentine fairly often. Just go to the spot where you get the Cling Ring and kill everyone inside. One of them is bound to drop some turpentine.

 

[RavenFox]

The enemies inside the first shortcut in Boletaria Palace all drop turpentine fairly often. Just go to the spot where you get the Cling Ring and kill everyone inside. One of them is bound to drop some turpentine.

After fighting those enemies so many times I just got turpentine after pulling the lever for the main gate lol. Go figure I guess the game decided its now time to give me some.

 

[Gyoru]

I'm going to do the "Level 1 challenge" - try to beat the game without leveling up with the Maiden in Black.

edit: down for a bit

 

[Fair Witness]

I wanted to mention that I found a place that sells Ephemeral Eyes. They cost 50,000 souls and some woman in the valley of defilement sells them. Somewhere at 5-2 if I remember correctly.

Edit: I saw that someone already posted this earlier.

 

[MickeyKnox]

Looks like PlayAsia finally shipped my order...

 

[RavenFox]

I wanted to mention that I found a place that sells Ephemeral Eyes. They cost 50,000 souls and some woman in the valley of defilement sells them. Somewhere at 5-2 if I remember correctly.

Edit: I saw that someone already posted this earlier.

That place is gross lol

 

[sh4mike]

Asia version shipped to USA from Iowa via Priority -- $50. Perfect condition. Payment via Paypal.

PM if interested.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Asia version shipped to USA from Iowa via Priority -- $50. Perfect condition. Payment via Paypal.

PM if interested.

Damn man, I take it you didn't like it enough to stick with it? At least you tried man!

 

[RavenFox]

Does anyone know how much space on the disc this takes? There is a loooot of stuff in this game. the lvls are just ridiculous [in a good way]

 

[Dr. Acid Avatar]

Here's a live stream of what looks to be a magician. Pretty high quality too. I find myself mesmerized by this damn game.

http://ja.justin.tv/nichiham

 

[RavenFox]

Here's a live stream of what looks to be a magician. Pretty high quality too. I find myself mesmerized by this damn game.

http://ja.justin.tv/nichiham

He does seem high lvl.

Holy Moly so are the enemies. One sword thrust to his back and KO!

 

[Dr. Acid Avatar]

He does seem high lvl.

Holy Moly so are the enemies. One sword thrust to his back and KO!

Haha, you aren't kidding!

 

[RavenFox]

He passed the dragon but why oh why didn't he keep running?? Never understand some players.

 

[archnemesis]

Man this game is really amazing. Right now I'm stuck on the 3-2 boss and even after dying a silly amount of times, I can't wait to get back to it later tonight.

5) Inability to bank money/exp can lead to tremendous frustration while saving for a big item (e.g. losing 3+ hours of work @ 30K souls following a double-death while saving for the 50K soul ring)

I know you're done playing the game, but I thought it would be worth mentioning this here anyway. You don't have to grind souls for the expensive rings. Both the Fragrant Ring (60.000 souls) and the Ring of Avarice (50.000 souls) can be found in level 3-2. It's probably better to spend your souls on leveling up your base stats instead.