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[Boss Man]

How do black phantoms look invisible? Is there a ring or something?

 

[Mdk7]

I'm playing Ninja Blade these days and i'm truly enjoying it... Is this other From Software game as good?
I just need a few lines to get an idea...
Thanks guys!

 

[Boss Man]

I'm playing Ninja Blade these days and i'm truly enjoying it... Is this other From Software game as good?
I just need a few lines to get an idea...
Thanks guys!

The atmosphere reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus. The gameplay feels like Oblivion if Oblivion was ten times better. It's the most rewarding and immersive game I've played in years. On the negative side, it is a bit buggy at times. I've had a lot of weird graphical hitches and way too many freezes. The freezes suck because the game takes a while to boot up. As aggravating as that is, I can't stop playing.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Want US release.

 

[Victrix]

How do black phantoms look invisible? Is there a ring or something?

Thief Ring and Graverobber's Ring both work in pvp. If you're wearing both of them, you're essentially invisible to invading BPs (which brings up another point, don't wear a ring or cast a spell that gives you an aura if you're trying to hide/ambush a black phantom, they make you easily visible).

For invading BPs, they can only use the Thief's ring, but it still makes them harder to spot at a distance.

 

[Mdk7]

The atmosphere reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus. The gameplay feels like Oblivion if Oblivion was ten times better. It's the most rewarding and immersive game I've played in years. On the negative side, it is a bit buggy at times. I've had a lot of weird graphical hitches and way too many freezes. The freezes suck because the game takes a while to boot up. As aggravating as that is, I can't stop playing.

WHAT!?!?!?
/DIES

 

[Boss Man]

Thief Ring and Graverobber's Ring both work in pvp. If you're wearing both of them, you're essentially invisible to invading BPs (which brings up another point, don't wear a ring or cast a spell that gives you an aura if you're trying to hide/ambush a black phantom, they make you easily visible).

For invading BPs, they can only use the Thief's ring, but it still makes them harder to spot at a distance.

A guy invaded last night and he was completely invisible save for a glow from some kind of enhancement or regen. Didn't know Thief's ring did anything in PvP. Maybe he had Hide and Thief's Ring? Do they stack?

 

[garath]

Question regarding weight limits:

I remember reading that <50% weight gives you the most movement, 50-100% is lowered. Is this equipped limit or total encumbrance? Or do both matter?

 

[Victrix]

Equipped weight. Heavier armor tends to slow stam regen too.

All forms of hide stack as far as I know, so yes, hide/thief is a possibility.

 

[RavenFox]

The atmosphere reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus. The gameplay feels like Oblivion if Oblivion was ten times better. It's the most rewarding and immersive game I've played in years. On the negative side, it is a bit buggy at times. I've had a lot of weird graphical hitches and way too many freezes. The freezes suck because the game takes a while to boot up. As aggravating as that is, I can't stop playing.

I haven't experienced any of those issues.

 

[Llyranor]

How extensive is the online co-op in this game?

 

[Victrix]

It's really difficult to sum up the multiplayer in DS. It's pervasive, always part of the game, you're always online, there's always other players around... but it's also a 90% solo game.

Coop is done in short one-off bits. Basically you as a live player summon up to two other dead players into your game to help out, for at most one part of a level up to a boss. If you win, they revive.

That works the other way as well, if you're dead, you can drop a marker and hope a live player summons you, if you help them out and kill the boss, you revive.

You could summon in coop players (or coop yourself) as much as you wanted really, though there is a level restriction on coop (and pvp players for that matter).

 

[Llyranor]

So you couldn't, for example, play through the entire game in 2p co-op with another specific player?

 

[Victrix]

Sure you could, but the other player would have to kill themselves after each boss kill (since they revive from ghost form to living form after each boss kill). It's not impossible, just awkward. Ghost players also can't pick up items in the world, unless you drop them to trade, so they might fall behind in terms of equipment and supplies.

On the upshot, the game is substantially easier with a coop partner.

You'd have to coordinate it out of game somehow as well, since the PS3 doesn't have voice chat stuff built in.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

I ordered this and am looking forward to it but I realize I dun know a damn thing about the story, plot or narrative.

Can someone give me an opinion, without spoilering my ass off? lol

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

Want US release.

If you import you are paying the same price for the same game months earlier. If it even comes out here at all. Which it probably won't. If you are remotely interested in this game you should probably buy it now. Not only may it become an even bigger bitch to find but there's a disclaimer at boot that they have the right to shut down the servers after September. Hop on while it's still goin'!

 

[Boss Man]

I haven't experienced any of those issues.

Really? I get weird lines growing out of my character and sometimes across areas, and it freezes quite often (usually during the loading screen). Am I the only one? I'm playing the Asian version on a 60GB PS3.

If I didn't love the game so much I would have stopped playing a while ago, because freezing on this game is not pleasant. Takes ages to boot up.

 

[Victrix]

There isn't really a story in a straight narrative sense. It's more 'A BIG EVIL EVENT OCCURED, ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO SAVE THE DAMN WORLD?'

And then you get dropped in and figure out what happened and what you're going to do about it at the end of the game.

That isn't to say it's bad, at all. The game is much more about atmosphere and ambience than it is about direct wordy jrpg exposition.

Think ICO or SoTC, but more grimdark.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I'm playing Ninja Blade these days and i'm truly enjoying it... Is this other From Software game as good?
I just need a few lines to get an idea...
Thanks guys!

While the two games are completely different, I think the level of quality in Demon's Souls is much higher than that of Ninja Blade. I found Ninja Blade to be quite fun as well, though.

The atmosphere reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus. The gameplay feels like Oblivion if Oblivion was ten times better. It's the most rewarding and immersive game I've played in years. On the negative side, it is a bit buggy at times. I've had a lot of weird graphical hitches and way too many freezes. The freezes suck because the game takes a while to boot up. As aggravating as that is, I can't stop playing.

That is strange. I have played for around 70 hours now on my Japanese 80GB white PS3 (the model that came bundled with GT5rologue) and the game hasn't frozen once or given me any graphical glitches. I am playing on the Japanese version, but I doubt there is any difference between the versions. Do other games freeze on you as well?

I do agree about how long the game takes to boot up. The load times are a bit long, too. I really wish they had included an install option.

Really? I get weird lines growing out of my character and sometimes across areas, and it freezes quite often (usually during the loading screen). Am I the only one? I'm playing the Asian version on a 60GB PS3.

If I didn't love the game so much I would have stopped playing a while ago, because freezing on this game is not pleasant. Takes ages to boot up.

Strange graphical glitches with frequent freezing sounds awfully like a dying / overheating video card. I hope for your sake that isn't the case, though!

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Question regarding weight limits:

I remember reading that <50% weight gives you the most movement, 50-100% is lowered. Is this equipped limit or total encumbrance? Or do both matter?

It is based on the equipped weight limit. Total encumbrance does not slow you down. You just can't pick up anymore items if you reach your limit.

It is definitely a good idea to raise your equipped weight limit so you can be agile while wearing heavy armor.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Sure you could, but the other player would have to kill themselves after each boss kill (since they revive from ghost form to living form after each boss kill). It's not impossible, just awkward. Ghost players also can't pick up items in the world, unless you drop them to trade, so they might fall behind in terms of equipment and supplies.

On the upshot, the game is substantially easier with a coop partner.

You'd have to coordinate it out of game somehow as well, since the PS3 doesn't have voice chat stuff built in.

To do this you would actually have to take turns on who is in soul form and who is live and you would have to kill every boss twice. You only get progression credit for killing a boss when it is your world. If you kill a boss you haven't beat on your own before in another player's world as a summoned soul, you will get a bunch of souls and be revived, but you will still have to beat that boss in your own world to progress.

 

[mujun]

add another 1 to the "never had any glitches or freezes" column.

add another 1 to the "my ps3 has busted twice" column as well

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

I've been disconnected from the servers a few times but never a true glitch.

 

[Defuser]

I'm playing Ninja Blade these days and i'm truly enjoying it... Is this other From Software game as good?
I just need a few lines to get an idea...
Thanks guys!

Let me put it in fanboy way.... :lol

Demon Souls has a cult following and was rated one of the most satisfying game to play by Japanese. Ninja Blade isn't.

Demon Souls sold more because word of the mouth. Ninja blade isn't.

Demon Souls has more post in this thread than ninja blade and this is just the asian/jp version we're playing.


Jokes aside,they're 2 different games.If you like hard games with a hardcore leveling system and love to grind alot then this game is perfect for you.

 

[RavenFox]

Really? I get weird lines growing out of my character and sometimes across areas, and it freezes quite often (usually during the loading screen). Am I the only one? I'm playing the Asian version on a 60GB PS3.

If I didn't love the game so much I would have stopped playing a while ago, because freezing on this game is not pleasant. Takes ages to boot up.

Woah that's your PS3 not the game. It either is very very dusty inside the unit or your not ventilating it enough. Your GPU is crying for cool air man.
On the other hand it could be going.

 

[Llyranor]

To do this you would actually have to take turns on who is in soul form and who is live and you would have to kill every boss twice. You only get progression credit for killing a boss when it is your world. If you kill a boss you haven't beat on your own before in another player's world as a summoned soul, you will get a bunch of souls and be revived, but you will still have to beat that boss in your own world to progress.

Urg. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

[Victrix]

Jokes aside,they're 2 different games.If you like hard games with a hardcore leveling system and love to grind alot then this game is perfect for you.

Disagree about the grinding or hardcore leveling system

You don't have to grind in the least to finish this game, it's more about your own skills. If you're good enough, you can get through the whole game quickly. Your first time, you're going to die, die again, die some more, die, and then die. Also die.

But it's awesome the entire time.

Urg. Not sure how I feel about that.

This isn't a coop game, don't mistake it for one. For one thing, trying to play the whole thing coop kind of ruins the whole haunting isolation of the game. Imagine if you could play ICO tagteam with some guy online

Coop is there when you really need it, and you're just too stuck on some boss in the game, and then it gives you a nice feeling of relief.

 

[RavenFox]

Disagree about the grinding or hardcore leveling system





This isn't a coop game, don't mistake it for one. For one thing, trying to play the whole thing coop kind of ruins the whole haunting isolation of the game. Imagine if you could play ICO tagteam with some guy online

Coop is there when you really need it, and you're just too stuck on some boss in the game, and then it gives you a nice feeling of relief.

Yup pretty much

 

[Boss Man]

Strange graphical glitches with frequent freezing sounds awfully like a dying / overheating video card. I hope for your sake that isn't the case, though!

Woah that's your PS3 not the game. It either is very very dusty inside the unit or your not ventilating it enough. Your GPU is crying for cool air man.
On the other hand it could be going.

Uh oh...scary.

I haven't had any problems with other games. What's the best way to get dust out of my PS3? That could very well be the problem. I have an ionizer and it creates some thick dust.

e: I take that back. The RE5 demo did the same thing to me with the graphics. I figured it was just the demo...

 

[semiconscious]

What's the best way to get dust out of my PS3?

i find a vacuum cleaner to be pretty effective...

 

[Llyranor]

This isn't a coop game, don't mistake it for one. For one thing, trying to play the whole thing coop kind of ruins the whole haunting isolation of the game. Imagine if you could play ICO tagteam with some guy online

Coop is there when you really need it, and you're just too stuck on some boss in the game, and then it gives you a nice feeling of relief.

Okay, interest has gone down a bit, but a good singleplayer game is still a good singleplayer game. It's just that this is unproven territory for me. Is there a JP demo or something?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Disagree about the grinding or hardcore leveling system

You don't have to grind in the least to finish this game, it's more about your own skills. If you're good enough, you can get through the whole game quickly. Your first time, you're going to die, die again, die some more, die, and then die. Also die.

But it's awesome the entire time.



This isn't a coop game, don't mistake it for one. For one thing, trying to play the whole thing coop kind of ruins the whole haunting isolation of the game. Imagine if you could play ICO tagteam with some guy online

Coop is there when you really need it, and you're just too stuck on some boss in the game, and then it gives you a nice feeling of relief.

I totally agree with your post.

You don't need to grind at all in this game. You could probably beat the game without too much trouble at a very low level with some basic skills and a lot of recovery items if you were good enough. I don't think there is any point in the game where you have to get hit by an enemy like in some turn-based RPG. You will get hit you will die a lot, but I'm sure there is someone out there trying to beat the game at level 1 or so and eventually they will probably succeed. Leveling is just there to make your character gradually more powerful, it really isn't "necessary" at all if you are good enough.

The online in this game is handled brilliantly and really makes sense in the game's universe with all of the souls who died in the realm being brought to the Nexus. I don't think a conventional co-op mode would have worked with this game.

 

[matmanx1]

Beat the Dragon God tonight. Awesome, awesome spectacle of a boss and a fun fight once I figured out what to do. I was very surprised at his location in relation to Flamelurker. Wasnt expecting to see him that quickly!

Game continues to be a total blast. And I agree about the atmosphere and narrative having alot in common with ICO or SotC. There arent alot of words but Demon's Souls doesnt need them to move the game along. It really is about a big, catastrophic world event you become a part of and have to figure out and overcome.

And as I said before, I try to avoid hyperbole but I'm doing all I can to sell this game to as many people as possible. It truly is great at being a dark fantasy themed action rpg that doesnt do any of the typical stuff you would expect from a JRPG. There are very good reasons this game continues to be talked about day in and day out on Gaf and elsewhere.

 

[Boss Man]

I totally agree with your post.

You don't need to grind at all in this game. You could probably beat the game without too much trouble at a very low level with some basic skills and a lot of recovery items if you were good enough. I don't think there is any point in the game where you have to get hit by an enemy like in some turn-based RPG. You will get hit you will die a lot, but I'm sure there is someone out there trying to beat the game at level 1 or so and eventually they will probably succeed. Leveling is just there to make your character gradually more powerful, it really isn't "necessary" at all if you are good enough.

The online in this game is handled brilliantly and really makes sense in the game's universe with all of the souls who died in the realm being brought to the Nexus. I don't think a conventional co-op mode would have worked with this game.

I think if you choose to kill each boss before tackling the final boss, you'd easily be at a sufficient level. Probably even if you didn't kill them all. What makes the game hard is that it's a big separation from what most other games are doing right now. It doesn't hold your hand. It doesn't tell you where to go or how to get there. It doesn't let you smash buttons or do combos. You've got to take your time, get into good positions, pay attention, and use some strategy. On top of that, deaths in this game can be very painful. I'd label it hardcore, but definitely not a grind. The first level felt impossible, the second level was hard, and then I started breezing through most of them and having a great time. It's very rewarding to be able to go back (with a new character, even) and waltz through something that you were incapable of doing before.

The online component is cool just because most games like this don't have anything to do with multiplayer. It's handled well, I guess. Definitely creative. I just wish it was more active. I've had a hard time trying to use it for world tendency changes because no one ever seems to be available, especially at my level (which isn't that high) and on levels that I actually want to play. Maybe it's just time zones. Different story for people who are playing during Asian primetime?

 

[mujun]

one thing to my knowledge which hasnt been mentioned in this thread is how obvious it is that the ppl who made this game love dnd. so much of the setting, the weapons, the classes, the monsters seem lifted from dnd it isnt funny.

id love to see different races in part 2.

 

[Mdk7]

Ok guys, i guess it's time to search for an asian copy.
No news about a western release date, right?

BTW Ninja Blade deserves far more attention, it's such a blast to play!

 

[mujun]

BTW Ninja Blade deserves far more attention, it's such a blast to play!

if it comes to ps3 it will

 

[schild]

one thing to my knowledge which hasnt been mentioned in this thread is how obvious it is that the ppl who made this game love dnd. so much of the setting, the weapons, the classes, the monsters seem lifted from dnd it isnt funny.

id love to see different races in part 2.

You're projecting. This is high fantasy better than pretty much every D&D setting. Short of the generic things, it bears nothing more than a passing resemblance to D&D.

In fact, I'm just about ready to call this the best dungeon crawler ever made.

 

[Remy]

My Play-Asia order for an Asian copy of this has gone from "backordered" to "preparing", so people looking for copies may be in luck shortly.

Rummy, expect some co-op requests once this comes in.

 

[garath]

It is based on the equipped weight limit. Total encumbrance does not slow you down. You just can't pick up anymore items if you reach your limit.

It is definitely a good idea to raise your equipped weight limit so you can be agile while wearing heavy armor.

Haha. I've been trying to keep my TOTAL weight down. That'll learn me. I think I'm over 50% in equipped weight by like .2 also. Time to drop some points in End.

 

[mujun]

You're projecting. This is high fantasy better than pretty much every D&D setting. Short of the generic things, it bears nothing more than a passing resemblance to D&D.

In fact, I'm just about ready to call this the best dungeon crawler ever made.

i dont think so, dnd has quite a cult following in japan and i see a lot of old school dnd in this game.

i could be wrong of course, i cant read the minds of the ppl who made the game. you could be wrong too though.

as for my new character, level 40 and have done about 1/3 of the game i suppose. im wearing leather except the helmet (cant stand the way it looks). using mainly the demon brand and +1 flaming longsword. i just crafted up the lava bow and im probably gonna do 4-3 next.

just had "fun" with two stupid random online players who got themselves (and me the first time) killed by the 4-2 boss. they both kept throwing spells at him and sent him into rage mode which makes him really hard to handle. once the second guy died i finished the boss off myself by sneaking round with the help of the thieves ring and shooting him with my bow :lol

 

[Krelian]

So after skimming through this entire thread and reading many impressions I decided to import the Asian version. I just have to find a good shop to buy it since Play-Asia (where I used to get my Asian imports so far) doesn't ship any PS3 games to Europe :/ I'll probably take a look at Ebay too.

 

[Flib]

Beat 1-1 and Phalanx last night, still so rewarding. Had a bit of time to check out some of the other levels, and some of them look awesome (Valley of Defilement in particular is sweet).

Love this game so much!

 

[RavenFox]

Okay I don't know if anyone realized this yet but there has to be an expansion or something coming. I looked at the broken warp stone the other night and I saw a goat like demon carved into it or something that looks like it. Then something else piqued my curiosity. Storm Ruler. Yes the description of the Storm Ruler sword speaks of its tremendous power and how it has lost most of it but it will show some of its power in 4-2 and a particular forest? Where the hell is this forest I say. I have a feeling from software are letting players lvl up very high before that warp point is unlocked. There might be shit in there that will just be so huge and unbelievable. Will Storm Rulers true power be realized for a destined fight? Who knows but its just wrong that beastly beauty can only be used in that area. Bow to From Software if this comes true.

 

[Boss Man]

How the hell do you get that treasure that's ontop of the rock at the beginning of 4-2?

Spoiler

The one where Patches kicks you down.

 

[MickeyKnox]

How the hell do you get that treasure that's ontop of the rock at the beginning of 4-2?

Spoiler

The one where Patches kicks you down.

You need white world tendency, the corpse will be on the ground.

 

[Tailzo]

So after skimming through this entire thread and reading many impressions I decided to import the Asian version. I just have to find a good shop to buy it since Play-Asia (where I used to get my Asian imports so far) doesn't ship any PS3 games to Europe :/ I'll probably take a look at Ebay too.

I am from Europe, I used yes-asia.

 

[PuMa]

I can't find Blige's cell in 4-1, where is it?

 

[mujun]

I can't find Blige's cell in 4-1, where is it?

its on the left side on the bottom level where you fight the big ball with tentacles.

 

[Tylahedras]

its on the left side on the bottom level where you fight the big ball with tentacles.

God damn, just listening to you guys talk about this game makes me want to play it so badly!